Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Forced Vengeance - Chuck Norris (1982) - Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong

I must admit, it took me a long time to like Chuck Norris. In my young eyes he was always the overly hirsute ugly dude who fights Bruce Lee at the end of Way of the Dragon and star of many a below-par film and series back in the US. However, after a recent re-familiarisation with Forced Vengeance (well, and a re-viewing of Firewalker with Lou Gosset Jr), I've seen him in a new light and actually think he is a pretty good actor after all.

Anyway, in 1982, Chuck came back to Hong Kong to star in a film about him as an-ex paratrooper who helps looks after the business dealings of a casino owner in HK. Cue lots of pretty good locales, many of which I have yet to see being used in other foreign-produced movies.

But what better way to kick it off than with a rather excellent early 80's panorama of the harbour shown during the opening credits.

Click on the picture for a better view, but in case you wanted them, the constituent shots are below.

The cylindrical Hopewell Centre on the right

Views over Wanchai District

Looking towards Kowloon Peninsula

The black building is the Sun Hung Kai Centre (built 1980)

The last picture shows us looking over towards Kowloon Peak on the right and Lion Rock on the left. Bottom of the screen is the AIA building on Stubbs Road. Speaking of Stubbs Road, if I was a betting man (which I'm not, by the way) I would put my money on this scene being shot from the Stubbs Road lookout.